Put TOM To Work For You—Top of Mind And How To Get There

TOM, or Top of Mind, is a marketing term used to identify whether or not your business is the first one people think of when they need the services you offer. Marketing, like the military, loves acronyms. We have a bundle. But all TOM means is that, when your customers need you, you'd better be there.

Top of Mind Recognition isn't complicated to achieve. The ingredients are straightforward. And the whole package is easy to assemble. Unfortunately, it can also be very expensive. Being TOM is much easier in a small market, and very, very expensive in a large market.

Top of Mind really has everything to do with your brand identity. You definitely want a good one. Without a great brand identity, you can't achieve TOM. You need a clear, concise and identifiable logo. A catchy tagline doesn't hurt. Be consistent with your advertising, because repetition is the key to unlocking TOM. It's also the key to creating a brand identity, which is one of the key ingredients that goes into this.

A brand identity can best be defined as your company's visual personality. It encompasses your logo, your company colors, your tagline, different advertising campaigns, your website design, your building's signage, vehicle wraps, etc. All of these elements need to be consistent. That way, when someone sees your ad in a magazine, and then sees your commercial on TV, and then sees your truck down the street at their neighbor's house, your company name and brand will be reinforced in this potential customer's mind. You see where we're going with this. Consistent message. Repeated again and again, in different ways with different media, at different times and at different locations. Pretty soon, your potential customers will be humming your tune.

Getting your business to achieve TOM can be a long-term and costly endeavor. But the payoff is that your business is the first one your potential customers think of when they need the services you offer.

Think of the local businesses with the catchiest jingles. Sure, they annoy you, but you remember them. Having a professional jingle written is an additional and often expensive cost, but putting an advertising message to music is a proven technique to help people remember. When you were learning the alphabet, you sang the "ABC" song. Same thing with a jingle. That jingle you've got stuck in your head right now? The one you heard on the radio on the way home from work, the one you're going to see on the commercial when you sit down to watch the local news? When you need the service they offer, whether it's a plumbing emergency or buying a new car or anything else, that jingle will stick in your head and that will be the first place you think of. Most jingles include the company's phone number or website address. And, unfortunately, the more annoying, the better. As long as it's catchy.

Whether you commission a jingle or not, your message needs to be everywhere. Here's where it gets a little bit more complex. You need to think like your potential customer, not like you. The overwhelming majority of ad campaigns fail because the campaigns end up advertising to the advertiser, not the customer. It doesn't matter what you like. It matters what your customer likes. And you need to discover what that is. And when you know who your customer is, you can get inside their heads and discover what else they like to do. Because human beings are complex. That complexity gives you lots of opportunity to surprise them. For instance, let's say you run a theater that shows live plays. You know that your audience likes some culture. You also know that, if they're coming downtown, they'll likely be going out to eat beforehand, and probably grabbing a drink afterwards. That's an example of what else they like to do. So go meet with the owners or managers of the surrounding restaurants and bars and talk to them about co-op advertising—you put posters or coasters or other types of items in their locations, they put ads in your programs. You just run the theater, but you've also created an event night for your patrons. You've gotten into their heads and discovered what else they like to do. And when all these businesses work together, everyone wins.

All marketing is local, no matter whether you're a national chain or the small Mom-and-Pop down the street. You're part of a community. Get involved. Sponsor teams, which allows you to get your logo on uniforms. Have your business join the local adopt-a-road program. You'll get a sign with your business name on it. Be a member of local business groups. Have booths at local festivals. Does your community have a farmer's market? Have a booth there. If you're a car dealer and want to sell more hybrids, a booth at the farmer's market is ideal. Have a few models in the parking lot to test drive. The point is, be where people aren't expecting you to be. Marketing wears people down. Being advertised to is offensive and is easily tuned out. Find something unique to do that gets your name in front of people. Don't copy your competition. Make your own statement. That's the whole idea, isn't it?

Being Top of Mind isn't difficult. It just takes time and investment. But the return on that investment is that you are the first business everyone thinks of. Being Top of Mind is not a bad place to be.